In case you missed Apple’s special event on March 21, 2016, here are the highlights:

Apple CEO Tim Cook kicked off the announcement with a brief statement about its ongoing battle against the FBI regarding the San Bernardino iPhone case.

“We believe strongly that we have a responsibility to help your protect your data and protect your privacy,” he said. “We will not shrink from that responsibility.”

Research and devs

Shifting quickly to other civic causes, Apple’s VP of Environment Lisa Jackson announced that 93 percent of its facilities worldwide run on renewable energy, and reached its goal of 100 percent in 23 countries, including China and the United States. She also said 99 percent of its packaging is now made from recycled paper.

In a quick video, Apple showed off its new Research and Development project called Liam, a robot designed to deconstruct old iPhones into reuse materials. Pretty neat!

Apple also announced CareKit – a new research tool for people to better understand data for various health conditions. iPhone users can now better track vitals like temperature, heart rate or range of motion if they have Parkinson’s Disease or have just undergone surgery, for example. This data can then be shared with their loved ones or doctors to adjust treatments.

CareKit will be available this April.

Small updates to Apple Watch & Apple TV

Nothing majorly exciting with Apple Watch updates during this announcement except a price cut – now down as low as $299 – and some new watch bands, such as a woven nylon bands with some funky color choices. Apple’s also added new Sport and leather bands.

Since the new Apple TV shipped late last year, Cook says there are now more than 5,000 Apple TV apps. He also mentions a few new updates coming to the OS, such as folders and voice dictation so you can say your password to sign in, and check out your Live Photos from the device.

Expect to kick your loved ones out of the room if you are too lazy to type your password in.

iPhone SE is real!

Here it is: a smaller iPhone. Apple even made a small joke about the fact that the product was heavily rumored and leaked.

The iPhone SE is a 4-inch device that comes with a 64-bit A9 chip and an M9 motion coprocessor – making it equivalent to the iPhone 6s. It has a 12-megapixel camera with all the standard features, such as panorama, time lapse, slow-motion, 4K video capture, and Live Photos. The selfie cam has a true-tone flash as well.

The iPhone SE starts at $399. Without a contract, you can purchase the device via its monthly payment plan starting at $17.

Pre-orders will start on March 24 and will be available in stores on March 31. Apple plans for the device to be in 110 countries by the end of May.

iOS 9.3 brings small, useful updates

Apple announced some new updates to iOS 9.3, such as password protection on notes, a night shift sleep-friendly lighting mode, and app suggestions for Health apps.

Apple News will now feature top stories and suggest Editor’s Picks for easy browsing. CarPlay gets a few updates too – with song suggestions and Maps locating nearby points of interests such as gas stations and rest stops.

Lastly, Education gets an update with more features for students, teachers and administrators.

A smaller iPad Pro

Here’s another device we were expecting – an update to the iPad Pro. Today, Apple announced a 9.7-inch Retina display iPad Pro that weighs less than one pound.

The new iPad Pro has a Oxide TFT display for high contrast ratio, and is 47 percent less reflective than the iPad 2 – the lowest reflectivity of any tablet, Apple says. The device also has the brightest screen with the widest color gamut Apple ever built. It’s designed to recognize ambient light to adjust the colors onscreen to best cast the tones for the most natural hues.

It also comes with four audio speakers, A9X chip, M9 motion coprocessor, a graphics drive as powerful as an Xbox 360, and a ‘Hey Siri’ handsfree compatibility.

Apple says it made a smaller iPad Pro to cater to those who want a powerful but more commute-friendly devices. It also admits it wants to attract Windows users over with the new iPad Pro as an “ultimate PC replacement.”

Accessories include a smart keyboard, Lightning SD card reader, USB camera adapter, and, of course, the Apple Pencil. The iPad Pro comes in four colors, including the new Rose Gold shade.

The device starts at $599 for 32GB and Wi-Fi and goes all the way up to 256GB of storage. That configuration applies to the original 12.9-inch iPad Pro as well.

Apple has released a new version of iOS 9.2.1 that will remedy bricked iPhones affected by ‘error 53‘ after servicing hardware with Touch ID. iOS 9.2.1 is the same version number released last month, but the updated build from 13D15 to 13D20 reflects the resolution for bricked iPhones.

Don’t expect to see this iOS update appear over-the-air if you’re already running iOS 9.2.1, however, as it’s only intended to make restoring via iTunes possible for affected iPhones.

Error 53 gained attention earlier this month as a large number of iPhone users with third-party home button repairs were reporting issues after updating to newer versions of iOS, namely no longer being able to use the device.

The error was put in place by design to protect fingerprint data on the Secure Enclave found on iPhones with the Touch ID sensor, but the issues created by it caught enough attention to lead to a potential class action lawsuit in the U.S.

For Apple’s part, it reacted somewhat quickly to the controversy with today’s fix. The company offered the following statement to TechCrunch regarding the issue:

Some customers’ devices are showing ‘Connect to iTunes’ after attempting an iOS update or a restore from iTunes on a Mac or PC. This reports as an Error 53 in iTunes and appears when a device fails a security test. This test was designed to check whether Touch ID works properly before the device leaves the factory.

Today, Apple released a software update that allows customers who have encountered this error message to successfully restore their device using iTunes on a Mac or PC.

We apologize for any inconvenience, this was designed to be a factory test and was not intended to affect customers. Customers who paid for an out-of-warranty replacement of their device based on this issue should contact AppleCare about a reimbursement.

Like this:

There are many ways iPhone users can unintentionally brick their devices, but YouTuber Zach Straley may have just discovered the quickest way to turn your beautiful iPhone into a worthless slab of metal, glass, and silicone.Simply set your iPhone’s date to January 1, 1970 and your device will become nothing better than a paperweight. The bug was supposedly found by a Chinese iPhone users who was trying to solve a date issue with iOS 9.3 beta 3. Not even a DFU restore will bring the device back to life once you set the time back to 1970 and reboot.Straley posted a video of the bug in action. Needless to say, don’t try this at home:

It appears that the bug affects all iPhones with a 64-bit CPU — A7, A8, A8X, A9 and A9X chips — but it doesn’t matter which version of iOS is running.

Some users have tried changing the date on their device and were still able to boot their device. For those who got away with trying this and it not bricking your device, there’s a reason why – time zones.

In some time zones, setting the date to 1 Jan 1970 will set the internal clock to a number less than zero, as the time is stored in GMT (as the number of seconds since midnight on that date) and then the offset is applied before display. In other time zones, setting the clock will result in a positive time value. Best guess is that this is triggered by having the time value less than zero.

How to fix this:

At the moment, the only way to make sure no one, purposely or accidentally, bricks your phone is to have a jailbroken iPhone and install the BrickingDate tweak.

All you have to do is to install the tweak on your jailbroken device. You’ll first have to add a new source to Cydia by opening the Sources tab and tapping Edit -> Add. A new pop-up appears where you’ll have to enter the following repository: http://repo.ziph0n.com. Once added, search for the tweak’s name and install it on your iOS device.

It is most likely that Apple will fix this issue in iOS 9.3, so until then all the non-jailbroken users will have to be extra careful and wait.

UPDATE:

Good news for non-jailbroken device!

It was found that disconnecting the battery and reconnecting it will allow the iPhone to reboot, however take caution while disconnecting the battery.

Follow these instructions to properly disconnect the battery from your device without causing damage:

Like this:

If you see ‘Error 53’ on your iPhone 6 or 6 Plus, prepare yourself for some bad news.

The message has been popping up on iPhones since the release of the recent iOS 9 update and it’s essentially a death sentence for any more recent Apple devices you own which have undergone third-party repairs, The Daily Mail reports.

Apple claim the error will protect customers, but thousands of users have said the update has essentially bricked their iPhones, and meant that any data kept within is lost with no hope of retrieval.

In a statement made toAppleInsider, Apple explained the security purposes behind the move and apparently the issue lies in the security measures of the Touch ID sensor.

The statement said:

We take our customer security very seriously and Error 53 is the result of security checks designed to protect our customers. iOS checks that the Touch ID sensor in your iPhone or iPad correctly matches your device’s other components.

If iOS finds a mismatch, the check fails and Touch ID, including for Apple Pay use, is disabled. This security measure is necessary to protect your device and prevent a fraudulent Touch ID sensor from being used.

If a customer encounters Error 53, we encourage them to contact Apple Support.

Basically the touch ID sensor is what records your fingerprints, and it keeps that data protected with a ‘secure enclave,’ an Apple spokeswoman explained in an earlier statement to The Guardian.

So it seems, any third-party repair work done that affects the home button and possibly the screen could mean that you might be get this message.

Kyle Wiens, head of the electronics-repair site iFixit.com, claims the policy is harsh, and ‘ridiculous.’ He even likens the Error-53 related crashes to the car company Ford, saying: ‘we’re not going to let any mechanics work on our cars because they’ll change the key.’

An Apple spokeswoman explained that ‘faulty screens or other invalid components,’ can disrupt the unique pairing methods of the touch ID, disabling the phone so it remains secure.

Worst of all, the error message has also popped up for users who had damaged their phones, and gone on using them without seeking repair.

Apple recommends taking the error-struck phones to an Apple Store, but not all iPhone users have access to official Apple repair centers. Even then, the Wall Street Journal has reported that some customers have gone to the Apple Store only to be turned away as the error message was like ‘the plague,’ and unauthorized repairs void the device warranty.

For many, the only solution has been to throw away the bricked phone, and buy a new one.

Unfortunately, Apple has its back covered on this as iPhone users did agree to this in the terms and conditions.

Fixes an issue that could cause Calendar to become unresponsive in Month view

Fixes an issue that prevented Game Center from launching for some users

Resolves an issue that zoomed the content of some apps

Resolves an issue that could cause an incorrect unread mail count for POP mail accounts

Fixes an issue that prevented users from removing recent contacts from new mail or messages

Fixes an issue that caused some messages to not appear in Mail search results

Resolves an issue that left a gray bar in the body of an Audio Message

Fixes an issue that caused activation errors on some carriers

Fixes an issue that prevented some apps from updating from the App Store

iOS 9.1 also lays the groundwork for some other iOS devices that are launching soon. One is the new Apple TV, which ships with the iOS-based “tvOS.” The other is the iPad Pro, which brings with it support for the Apple Pencil and its Smart Keyboard cover. The Apple TV ships next week, while the iPad Pro is due sometime in November.

Apple also released an update for OSX El Capitan with the following release notes:

The introduction of iOS 9 brought on a lot of new and useful features. From search in settings, to low power mode, many of these new features fit in perfectly with our daily routine.

However, one feature, that was designed with good intention, has spelled disaster for many users.

Wi-Fi assist is a feature in iOS 9 designed to aid a poor Wi-Fi connection with your data connection. This means that if you are connected to a slow Wi-Fi connection, your iPhone will automatically use its data connection to complement the slow Wi-Fi.

This is very beneficial for users on unlimited data plans, but for users who have a monthly limit, Wi-Fi assist will (most probably) be responsible for the price hike in your next bill.

Now that you you know what Wi-Fi assist is, you can choose whether or not to keep it enabled. If you decided to disable it, navigate to Settings -> Cellular, scroll all the way down and disable the Wi-Fi assist toggle.